Why Pod? (Apple iPod mini 6 GB)

Member Name: JulianConnor

Product:	Apple iPod mini 6 GB
Date:	10/07/05 (903 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small size, Large Capacity, Attractive, Plenty of features

Disadvantages: Many iPods have been returned with faults, quite pricey !

As with many purchases I have made in my life, buying an iPod was a bit of an impulse buy. I had recently recieved my student loan and had a fair bit of what i believed to be disposable income.

I was in Virgin megastores in the city centre of Liverpool with my girlfriend and a friend. The bright shiny cases of the iPod drew me in. I owned a small 256mb mp3 player which had frazzled when my mother 'accidentally' put it in the washing machine! Compared to the glory of the iPod, it was primitive!

Upon my purchase I was elated to say the least. It cost me around £170 at the time, which was a big purchase, but i feel it was worth it. You can get them for around £139 now.

The sheer vastness of the iPods capacity was a dream come true, a far cry from the days of my pathetic mp3 player. I could listen to a whole lot more music on the move, (and music was made to be listened to on the move) meaning i didn't have to change the music on it all the time before it drove me crazy with repetition, as listening to my old mp3 player often did.

A few months later it all went wrong. My iPod froze and i couldn't switch it back on. I tried to return it to Virgin however i did not have my receipt. Fortunately the lovely people of Apple were able to honour my warranty. After I reported the fault on apples website, a UPS man came the next day to collect it. A new ipod was returned to me via UPS within days. I was not charged for this service.

So overall, the Mini iPod is an excellent purchase for those who can't afford the larger versions, and don't be put off by the many technical faults that have been reported with mini i-pods, as Apple do not want to lose their faithful customers and there almost monopoly like status in the mp3 player market, so customer care is of paramount importance to them, and should you have a problem with your ipod they will go out of their way to help you.

Another great feature i have noticed with the iPod is that the earphones are reliable. As i like to listen to music in bed, my earphones often tend to break meaning I have to buy new ones. I am yet to face this problem with my iPod, which i purchased way back in January.

Its also compact and light, a far cry from what now seems stone age portable cd players. U can jog or run with your iPod, it will not jump.

The first time I used my iPod I was a little confused by the click wheel feature, but I soon realised how simple it was to use. The menus are all there for you just like on a PC so its not a problem.

It also has some very useful features like an alarm clock and a section to keep notes, not to mention various games. The backlight is also very handy for operating in the dark.

One downside is it takes a while to convert a cd into iTunes but i expect this has more to do with the speed of the PC than the ipod or its software.

If your a fan of music, great , the iPods for you.
If your into being fashionable, the iPod is also for you as it seems to be quite fashionable at the moment.
Personally i couldn't care if it was trendy or not, it does the job.

So yes, I would recommend you buy one, and no, I do not have shares in Apple!

Summary: worth purchasing, especially if u make a lot of bus/train journeys.

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